Nearly five months passed between the time I got my first look at the miraculous Pushing Daisies pilot and the second episode. It was worth the wait. I am officially in love.Flashback (I wish I could count back the days, hours, minutes and seconds as precisely as Jim Dale does in his spot-on narration): It’s the week before the network upfronts in May, and I’m in Los Angeles working on the TV Guide Network’s America’s Next Producer show when a studio exec not even associated with Pushing Daisies leaks me a copy of the pilot, which I’d heard was good but had no idea was THIS good. From the moment I saw it, I was enchanted and could only hope that fellow critics and viewers with open minds and open hearts would share my enthusiasm. I was also so satisfied by what I’d seen that I couldn’t help wondering if they’d be able to pull it off on a weekly basis.Flash to the second week of October, and in brilliant high definition, I watch the second epis...
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My fellow horror fiends, I apologize for the late posting. Between my city’s first-ever-in-history blizzard last week and a trip to the ER (I’m fine now, no worries), I’ve been a bit behind. While recovering over the past weekend and attempting to stay warm, Dario Argento’s fur-fringed Masters of Horror episode, Pelts, seemed a fitting theme.I haven’t held back from admitting that so far, I’ve been underwhelmed and disappointed with Masters of Horror this season. Knowing that Italy’s horror maestro Dario Argento was up next, I still had some hope for the rest of the season, yet I also cringed because I wasn’t too fond of his season 1 episode, Jenifer. One of the main reasons I didn’t like Jenifer was that Argento departed from his trademark style to try a grittier perspective, and I just didn’t feel that it worked. The Showtime website synopsis for Pelts did indicate that Argento would be returning to his legendary vividly colored, o...
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